


Yours, Mine And Ours

by Not_a_Mastermind



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Child Neglect, M/M, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-27 17:41:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15690228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_a_Mastermind/pseuds/Not_a_Mastermind
Summary: Jared and Jensen have been accidentally switched at birth. They grow up in vastly different circumstances owing to the fact that Jared is a werewolf in a family of humans who sometimes masquerades as the family dog while Jensen is the lone human in his pack and feels ever the third wheel. When the mix up is discovered it shakes up both families and opens a new can of worms for all involved.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my 2017 Big Bang Challange! I know I am posting a year late here but better late than never. This is a completed work.
> 
> Author notes: Thank you first to bluefire986 for picking my story to create art for. Everyone check out the masterpost here http://bluefire986.livejournal.com/13846.html it's amazing. Thank you for being so patient with me and for creating very wonderful, beautiful art! She was way ahead of the ball and I let her down with all my issues and getting my posting of my story up late. Second thanks to jdl71 and kinkyqu33nspn for their beta work. Jdl71 came to my rescue and offered to help me beta from an early stage and her advice and help were terrific! Kinkyqu33nspn came in later in the game to help me out. Last thank to the tech men and women who helped me get my computer back up and running when I was having major issues.
> 
> Extra Notes: I will be posting chapter by chapter since I don't have a lot of computer time. This story has also had some extra editing from last year and I want to make sure that everything is done right.
> 
> Feel free to comment and tell me what you think.
> 
> Enjoy the story!

**Yours, Mine And Ours**

 

****

 

**Part 1**

 

**Prologue**  
_Before birth and birth_

**Jared**

  
Gerald hated to be away from his pack and lands for long periods of time, which to his was anything over two or three days. But he would do anything for his beloved mate and wife. Anything. Which was why for the past week he had pushed his worries to the back of his mind and did what he hated to do. He was currently in a small town hospital waiting hand and foot on his bedridden wife Sherri while awaiting the birth of his second child. After the birth of their son Jeff, his and Sherri’s first child she had become pregnant again soon after. However, she had lost the baby, a girl, late in the pregnancy. Her third and fourth pregnancy had both ended in early miscarriages. When she had become pregnant for the fifth time she had insisted on going to a doctor as soon as they knew about the baby. They had had to travel to a big city to meet with a doctor who could help them, and it had been worth it. With the help of medication prescribed by the doctor combined with homeopathic remedies from their pack healer along with plenty of taking it easy the baby had made it to full term. They had planned for a traditional home birth but Sherri went into early labor. Gerald fearing for her and the baby’s health had gone to the closest hospital with the proper equipment. The doctors there were able to stop Sherri’s labor. She was confined to the bed should labor start up again with too much movement. The doctor they had planned on using along with a nurse of their own kind had been contacted. They were to wrap up anything immediately pending and head to a larger hospital in a city some eighty miles from the hospital they were at. It was the only one close enough with the facilities needed to monitor and deliver a high risk pregnancy. Also, it could accommodate the nurse Gerald would not have excluded. He could not tell the doctor the true reason they needed that particular nurse. They were trying to keep the existence of their race from the public and the nurse was one of their race. Their race being werewolves or Weres for short.

Being transferred to the big hospital was an experience in and of itself. It took so long with a heavy amount of stress the whole way just about drove him crazy. It took everything he had not to transform and run to calm his nerves when they arrived. Once safely in her new bed and hooked up to all kinds of wires and evaluated by the doctors they were alone in peace to wait. Ever his anchor, Sherri was calm and collected and spent more time soothing him then he did her. He was both proud of her and ashamed of his own behavior. That he, the Alpha of the Padalecki pack couldn’t hold it together for a few days let alone a week. And there was still time to wait yet before it was all over. There was plenty of professional help should anything go wrong, but he always panicked a little when the machines monitoring his mate strayed one beep out of pattern. For the waiting period he had stayed at the hospital and slept in a chair next to Sherri’s bed instead of venturing into the city to find a hotel. He didn’t want to be away should anything happen. He didn’t know the city at all or if there were any packs who used it in their territory.

Finally after a whole week of labor starting and stopping had gone by their doctor arrived. He specialized in high risk pregnancies and had been arranged just for Sherri. Gerald had sized him up and taken his measure as he examined Sherri. He talked with her about whatever fears she had and what he would be doing to help ensure she had a safe and easy delivery. When he was half way through the nurse they had hired arrived and took her own time examining Sherri. She and the doctor conferred, deciding it would be best for Sherri to have a C-section. It was scheduled for the following afternoon. The nurse left with the doctor to rearrange any surgeries so they could have the newest and biggest room. By tomorrow night his second son would be born. Gerald was so nervous he kept watch over his mate all night. In the morning he hovered while one last ultra sound and a last finale exam were done. He held her hand as she was prepped for the C-section. He then changed as quickly as he could into some scrubs provided for him. Only then was he allowed into the operating come delivery room. Where he took up his post beside Sherri, holding her hand and offering support.

Just as they were getting ready to start there was a commotion from the outside corridor. Whatever chaos the outside world was experiencing was big or bad enough that it reached them in their protective space. Even with soft soothing music the doctor had put on playing from the speakers at the ceiling it could be herd. Soon the air was filled with voices paging doctors and any extra nurses or hands to help instead of music. The phone on the far wall began to ring and everyone turned to look at it before a nurse rushed over to answer it. After a moment she turned pale and called the doctor over. He went a little pale too as he talked quietly with whoever was on the end of the line. Gerald knew he shouldn’t listen in but he couldn’t help it. Whatever was going on out there had the potential to affect his mate and his unborn child.

“There’s been a huge accident on the freeway and we are overflowing with victims. We have two pregnant women, one is in early labor from the trauma. The other is badly injured we don’t know the condition of her baby yet. I know you have a patient already but do your best with her and work as safely but as quickly as you can. We need you as soon as possible for the other women. We’ll have them ready for you with help when you step out.” A woman’s frantic and panicked voice was loud in Gerald’s ears as if he were holding the phone to his own ear and his wolf inside him winced.

“I will help of course” the doctor replied “Let me finish here and I’ll start with the woman in labor. Have an ultra sound machine ready and put her in a delivery suite if she isn’t too injured.”

Gerald tuned out the rest of the conversation as he returned his attention to his mate. He felt for the other woman, of course but he would be damned if the doctor decided to leave before his son was born, even if the other woman was injured. The doctor was at their side then just as if his thoughts had summoned him.

“Mr. and Mrs. Padalecki I’m going to operate now. I’m going to be the best I can be and do the utmost to my abilities to deliver your son safely. Once he's delivered I’ll run him up to the NICU for evaluation. There is an emergency with another woman who needs my special help right away. Dr. Jett who is the hospitals leading OBGYN” he pointed to who had come in while he was on the phone. Dr. Jett now approached the bed while the doctor went on, “will do the close. The most dangerous part will be out of the way. Dr. Jett is very skilled Mrs. Padalecki”

Gerald wanted to say something and was about to but didn’t as Sherri gave his hand a hard squeeze. He looked at her as she nodded at the doctor “we understand, thank you.” She had probably listened in on the phone call as well. As a mother and in her own difficult position she knew what the other women must be feeling. Plus her wolf would be helping her. The other women would need any extra help they could get. It would be selfish to keep this doctor from them and their unborn children.

“Good, then let’s have a baby,” the doctor said and at this signal the room burst into activity. The doctor changed his gloves as did the nurse who had answered the phone. A tray of sharp, odd and somewhat creepy instruments were uncovered and wheeled next to them. Two polls were raised from the side of the bed. A tarp like drape blanket attached to the polls making a curtain across Sherri’s body below her breasts. Gerald kept holding Sherri’s hand and they exchanged squeezes. He swiveled his head back and forth to view both sides of the curtain often. Half an hour later the loud wailing cries of a baby filled the room. Both Gerald and Sherri were crying so neither one got to focus on any glimpses of their baby boy. Less than three minutes later the doctor and their son were gone and a new flurry of activity had begun. As soon as their doctor had stepped away from Sherri with their baby Dr. Jett had stepped in. He checked over the work of their doctor and started with the closing. When Dr. Jett finished he went to clean up as Sherri was moved to recovery and nursing. Gerald went to get cleaned up as well but when he finished he had to go out into the main hall to get to the new room.

He had been so focused on Sherri and thoughts of their son that he had almost forgotten about the accident. He was startled to emerge into a crowded and noisy hallway. The fallout from the accident earlier was still coming down it appeared. A few ambulances were still offloading victims and random people were stumbling in. Already family and loved ones of the victims stood scattered about looking and waiting for news. Cops, ambulance personnel, nurses and doctors were all talking, writing and darting from person to person, directing the flow of the masses. Any nurses or doctors not dealing with patients were weaving their way through the throng. Their arms loaded with charts, supplies, cleaning things and other various paraphernalia. Several were pushing carts of equipment and supplies. Sherri was taken down a back hallway and he was glad. She would be spared having to maneuver through the mess of people and things as he was doing. Being so isolated on pack lands and even in the small town on its boarder that they visited on the rare occasion the average hustle and bustle could be nerve wracking, let alone a hospital such as this one had been just yesterday. Now it was almost too much and he was not afraid to admit that he wanted to tuck tail and run. He hunched in on himself and hurried as fast as he could to Sherri’s room. He tried not to look at anything too closely and distract his mind from the things he was hearing and smelling.

When he got to Sherri’s room he was glad to see that she seemed relaxed. The chaos of the rest of the hospital was not very apparent here. Sherri appeared to be taking everything much better than he was. He suspected it was a combination of the drugs given to her for the C-section and not having to witness the carnage in the halls, for this he was glad. He had just settled into a chair he had pulled to Sherri’s bedside when a nurse knocked on the door and came in.

“Your son is doing very well. He has been cleaned, weighed, measured and is being foot printed for the birth certificate. What is the boy’s full name that you want on the birth certificate?” She had a notepad with her to take down their information.

They had picked out a name as soon as they had known they were having a boy. They hadn’t told anyone what it was just in case something happened and they were left without a child to go with the name. Now Gerald spoke up with a smile on his face. “Jensen Ross Padalecki.” They had picked Jensen because it was a family name on Sherri’s side and Ross because it was Gerald’s grandfather’s name. Both names held power and meaning within their pack and local Were community.

“That’s a lovely name,” the nurse said as she wrote it down. “Things are a bit busy but we’ll get baby Jensen in to see you soon. Don’t get worried if it’s not right away. We’re in a bit of crisis mode at the moment and even the nursery is busy. He’ll be brought in by a maternity nurse who can help answer any questions you have about breastfeeding if that’s your choice. Or other feeding options if you don't care to breastfeed and general care for his first few months. I know you already have a child but it never hurts to go over the basics and Jensen being a little early and all he may need a little more special care. He’s fine as can be, a healthy baby, it’s just a precaution.” The nurse saw that Gerald was about to speak up and this calmed his fears. Sherri hadn’t been startled at all. Gerald felt a little embarrassed that he may have thought and acted a bit hastily in not using logic for adding that into account. With another smile, the nurse was gone and they were left to wait.

It took about two hours before Jensen arrived. In the meantime Gerald took a few trips to pace the hall and burn off energy. While he was in the hall he eaves dropped on the rest of the hospital. To deal with the amount of accident victims the hospital had called in all staff to the hospital, even if they were on vacation close by. The two other pregnant women both had their babies delivered. One had been born alive, the other still born. Gerald hung his head and said a silent prayer for the family of the still born baby. He decided he wouldn’t tell Sherri the fate of either of pregnant women and their babies. On top of that there were still the usual day to day patients. There had been a woman in labor from the day before who had delivered a healthy baby girl. Because of this Gerald could understand the delay in bringing their baby to them. But he was overjoyed when Jensen finally arrived.

The nurse they had hired was looking tired and weary when she came in. But she smiled as she presented them a tiny mewling baby boy freshly scrubbed and swaddled tightly in a blue and white blanket with a tiny blue cap on his head. She handed him over to Sherri and then pulled a disposable camera from a pocket. She proceeded to take pictures of them cuddling and cooing over their new bundle of joy. Little did they know that the baby they were so happy to embrace was not their own.

When Jensen had to return to the nursery Gerald walked with the nurse. Her name was Blu and she told him that all samples had were taken care of and that they would be handled by one of their kind. Paperwork was neatly done, nothing suspicious was evident and it looked like any normal human birth. She informed him that because Jensen was a bit early that he and Sherri were being kept for observation. The doctor was more worried about Sherri then Jensen. Of course he didn’t know that she would be healed and healthy by the following afternoon. They would watch Jensen since he seemed to be a bit weak but with breast feeding and inner wolf, even if it was dormant for now, he would be fine by the third day at most. She would stay until they were free to leave and would make sure any samples that came from the nursery were screened. She also told him about the other baby born that day from the accident. How their cribs were side by side and they spent their waking time looking and fussing at each other. She would take a picture for Sherri to see if they wanted, with that they were at the door. For every visit after, Blu gave Gerald a progress report as he escorted her and Jensen back to the nursery. After five days of this Jensen and Sherri were released to return home and to the pack. They wouldn’t see Blu or the other baby for several years to come.

  
**Jensen**

  
Donna was in a panic as she was rushed through the emergency doors of the hospital by a paramedic who could have passed for a football player. Tears were flowing out of the corners of her eyes and into her hair and ears. They blurred her vision as her gasping breaths fogged the oxygen mask over her mouth and nose. The IV line in her arm itched, her head felt like someone was playing the drums on her brain and her leg throbbed. But all of that paled in comparison to the pain in her belly where her baby was nestled. Of all her pains and would be injuries seen and unseen, this was the worst to her. At this very moment if pressed, or hell even if asked outright, she would say that she was more concerned for her unborn baby then for her husband, who had also been injured in the accident. She thought that he would be brought here to the same hospital with her but she wasn’t one hundred percent sure. She had overheard some of the EMT’s exclaiming that some patients would have to be transported to another hospital. Although she had no idea where that would be when the cities out in this part of the country were so far apart. If she wasn’t so worried, in pain and if the doctors weren’t so busy she would have asked.

As it was just listening to the doctors and trying to stay calm was taking all her attention and energy. Being stressed was not helping her condition or her baby. But she couldn’t help but think of every worst case scenario as she was wheeled along. A few words spoken loudly finally caught her attention and she fixed her focus on the voice that was calling her name. There was a man next to her in green scrubs speaking directly to her.

When he saw he had her attention he dove right in. “Mrs. Ackles you are bleeding vaginally and there's possibly some amniotic fluid. Your leg is too injured to put you in stirrups for labor. We’re going to do an emergency C-section immediately. The baby is in distress and can’t wait. There is a specialist who deals with high risk pregnancy and delivery so you will be in excellent hands. We’re taking you into surgery now, once we get your baby delivered we’ll work on fixing your leg.” As the doctor finished speaking they entered a door and a new team of nurses and doctors surrounded the gurney. She wheeled down a short hall and into a small room filled with lights, equipment carts, and monitors.

She was transferred swiftly by many hands onto a table and lit up from all directions. She didn’t have time to feel embarrassed as her clothes were cut off and her body draped with a sheet. Her IV line was adjusted and a new line inserted just above it. A shot of something was added into the new line. A new oxygen mask was put over her face and she realized as she started to feel loopy and unfocused that she might pass out. She pushed at the mask and tried to speak repeating two names “Jared and Jasmine.”

“What?” the doctor who had explained what was happening to her bent over to hear her better.

“My baby…want name…Jared…Jasmine” her voice was weak and slurred now as the drug she was given kicked in. She felt exhausted and her eyes drooped.

The doctor’s face was distorted now but she could still see the puzzled look for the moment it took him to understand what she wanted. “You don’t know the gender of your baby correct?” She nodded and he went on while placing the oxygen mask over her face with no further protest. “If it’s a boy it’s Jared and if it’s a girl it’s Jasmine?” She nodded much more slowly this time and the doctor smiled at her. Things got fuzzy before she finally embraced unconsciousness.

When Donna regained full consciousness it was slowly. She had time to catalog the aches and pains in her body and process them. She compared how she felt to her nightmares to determine that she was in the hospital before she even opened her eyes. She was in a large hospital bed she remembered from her last trip to a hospital when she had had her first child, Josh. The room was dimly lit but there was a window. The shades covering the window were still bright so it must still be day outside.

Alan, her husband stretched out in a chair that looked like a lazy-boy next to her bed softly snoring. His arm was cast in plaster and in a sling strapped to his side. He had a large gauze Band-Aid taped to his temple and forehead and wrapped with a little gauze strip to his head. He was also sporting a spectacular black eye on the injured side of his head. Her bed was at a slight incline so that when she looked down she could see her stomach no longer filled with life. A plaster cast on her own left leg. There was no one else in the room and no sign of a baby.

She started to panic and adrenaline shot through her system pushing back any remnants of painkillers and setting her body to throbbing. She fumbled in vain looking for something to use to call for help. Her movements and monitors alarm woke Alan with a start. He let out a pained grunt as he took in what was happening. He struggled to get up before finally leaning forward and scooting off the chair. He called her name in soothing tones as if she was having a nightmare and he could wake her. Just as he got to his feet still repeating her name a nurse and doctor came in. The nurse set to work silencing the monitors while the doctor tried to calm and talk to her.

“Relax Mrs. Ackles you are at St. Joseph’s Memorial. You were in an accident but you’re all right. Your leg was broken and had to be set with a pin to keep it stable. You hit your head and have various cuts and bruises from some glass but you are okay.”

Donna knew that the doctor was trying to calm her by telling her what happened. She didn’t care about herself. She wanted to know about her baby. She wouldn’t have cared if they had amputated her leg and was horribly disfigured as long as her baby was okay. Alan must have known what she needed because he shouldered the doctor half out of the way so she could focus on him.

“Jared’s fine sweetheart” he took her hand, careful of the IV line, in his uninjured hand.

“Jared” she sighed with relief and lay back onto the bed, the earlier panic flowing out of her and leaving her tired and aching.

The doctor relaxed himself since she had stopped struggling. He didn’t try to move Alan and didn’t remark about the shove as he nodded. “Ah yes, I’m sorry perhaps I should have lead with that bit of news. You have a boy Mrs. Ackles. Born almost two months premature, he is in excellent health with no ill effects from the accident or traumatic birth. Slightly underweight but that is to be expected in a premie. He is fully developed but we have been keeping him in an incubator just in case. He even has some hair” the doctor smiled at this. “He’ll be brought to you within the hour for a quick feeding but then he has to return to the nursery. We want to keep him under observation until tomorrow. We don’t expect any problems but we just want to be sure” the doctor reassures.

“Of course” Donna laid back and tried to relax. She knew it was the right thing to do. She wanted her baby now, and she didn’t want to have to be separated from him. The nurse finished checking over her machine readouts. Since the doctor was finished with them, he and the nurse left. Alan took his seat again. Once they had left and she felt better. “What happened while I was out?”

Alan grimaced a bit getting comfortable before giving her a weak smile. “Well for starters we were separated most of the time. I was sent to another hospital since I wasn’t badly hurt after you and Ms. Tova, another pregnant woman in the accident, were sent here. I must admit I didn’t behave very nicely to the doctors trying to treat me. But once they knew you were here they were very forgiving of my attitude. I should send them a card later” he shook his head to get back on track. “They x-rayed me and ran a quick cat-scan for my head. The typical broken arm which they cast and a few stitches for the cut on my head. They didn’t find anything wrong under the surface. The rest is just minor cuts and bruises, but I’m on concussion watch just in case. Since I was going to another hospital I was released with instructions to check in once I got to your hospital. It took almost an extra half hour to find out which hospital you were in. I got a ride from an officer who wanted my statement about the accident. When I got here you were in surgery and they had already delivered Jared. I had to finish giving my statement before I was let go. By then they were just finishing up with you. I got to see Jared for only a second through the nursery window on my way to you. I’ve been here ever since, maybe forty-five minutes or so. All together it’s only been a little over three hours, give or take.”

Donna took this all in as they sat in silence for a while. She was glad that Jared was okay and that they had come out of the accident without serious life changing injury. The broken leg and arm they had between them would heal and life would go on. Whatever problems came up from Jared being premature they could handle. He was underweight the doctor had said but that was easy to fix. If he had any lung problems that would be harder. He might need to be kept in the incubator or he might need a tent overnight to breath better while he slept. Hopefully there was nothing wrong with him developmentally. They wouldn’t know until he was older. She couldn’t worry too much about that now. It would be hard to handle their new son for a while but they could manage with help. Help! “Did you call Sara? Or anyone else?” She knew that her parents would want a call. They would be worried if Sara called to fill them in.

Sara was her only sister and was staying with their four year old son Josh. She and Alan had begged her to babysit while they had one last mini vacation to try and relax before Jared was born and they would have two babies in the house. She had agreed only in exchange for the same favor when she had her own baby someday, they had been happy to agree. Their vacation was planned down to the smallest detail, so they could get as much seen and done as possible. Of course that hadn’t turned out as planned. She and Alan were both now injured and Jared was early. They had nothing to dress him in or carry him in when they left. They weren’t quite prepared for him at home either. She still hadn’t moved all of Josh’s things to his new room so that the nursery could belong to the new baby alone. She felt a small wave of guilt wash through her. She had been so worried about her new baby she had forgotten for a moment about her first baby, Josh. Josh hadn’t wanted them to go on this vacation and had been wary about the arrival of the new baby. Now they would come home without the present they had wanted to buy for him but with the new baby. He would also be upset and possibly scared about their injuries, as he was too young to fully understand them. In his emotional state he was bound to want more attention to feel better and make sure that he wasn’t being replaced with the new baby. That would be hard to do with a broken leg and arm between them. It was going to be a very emotional time as well as physically trying. But come hell or high water they would get through it, even if she had to call in their parents.

Alan turned a little red which didn’t help his looks with his black eye and facial injuries. “I forgot, I’ll just do that now” he got slowly to his feet. “I have to go out they won’t let me use my cellphone in here” he didn’t move from his position by her bed. She didn’t want him to go, but calling Sara and their parents was important. Biting her lip she nodded her reassurance. Alan gave her a smile and lumbered out of the room.

Donna would call Sara and her parents later on the hospital room phone after she saw Jared. It would be a long talk and she didn’t want to interrupt it when the nurses brought Jared in for his feeding. She was bound to get very emotional and she didn’t want to upset Jared when she handled him. He had had enough upset being born so early and not seeing her first thing, or at least that was what she imagined. Alan came back half an hour later and sat down with a big sigh. He was about to update her when there was a knock on the door and a nurse came in with a rolling crib. She and Alan were silent as the nurse picked up a small bundle of blankets. She folded the top corners down to reveal a tiny pink face topped with wisps of thin light brown hair.

“Here you are Mrs. Ackles” she handed over the baby “little Jared is excited to see you and hungry I am sure.” Once in her arms Jared wiggled until his head was tilted her way and he looked at her with dark blue-gray eyes of all newborns. His mouth was opening and closing like a carp and one of his arms got free of the tight swaddle. With a closed fist he raised his hand. Opening the fingers he slowly waved it about before it traveled up towards his mouth. “Seems he’s lost a mitten” the nurse said. She pulled a new one from a pocket on her scrubs and quickly covered the flailing hand. “Do you need any help with the breast feeding or would you like to have him bottle fed?”

“No I’ll breast feed, I know how we have another son” Donna said not looking up from Jared’s face. She rearranged him so she could pull the front of her gown down to free said breast. The nurse stepped back so Alan could scoot in and she got Jared to attach himself to her breast. He took to it immediately and she twinged a bit at the powerful suction. While Jared ate the nurse went over the usual scripted speech of caring for a new baby, asking a few questions to make sure they knew what to do. A few of the facts were different given that Jared was premature but it was basically the same as when they had Josh. When she was done with her speech she just waited for Jared to finish feeding and burping. She gave them a bit of time to coo over him before she had to take him back to the nursery. She promised to bring him back when he was hungry. If all went well during the night they could have him in the room for up to three hours at a time tomorrow.

When the nurse left with Jared they just sat in silence for a bit before Donna decided it was time to call home. Sara and her parents were worried and had to be put off coming to the hospital. They could come the next day or when they would be released so that they could have a ride home. They would call daily for check-ins and Donna’s parents would pick them up. With that done they both settled in to take naps until Jared would be brought back. When he was, Alan would buy a camera from the gift shop to take pictures since there were none of the birth or first feeding. This cycle went on for five days until they were all released to go home. Both Donna and Alan were in better shape and spirits and neither needed pain meds anymore. Donna’s parents spent half an hour exclaiming over their new grandson before listening to instructions from the doctor to relay to Sara when they arrived at the house. Donna’s mother was staying to help Sara for a while since it was going to be hard with two babies and two invalids. They had to use a side entrance to leave the hospital. There was another family with a baby loading up to leave from the front entrance. They didn’t want to get a backup with how time consuming it would be to get everyone situated. It was a mistake that would take many years to sort out.

The doctor who had birthed Jensen only stayed in the room long enough to clear his airways, and give him a quick rub down to clean him off before swaddling him in a blanket before rushing from the room. The nurse, Blu something or other whom the Padalecki’s had hired was hot on his heels. His next patient had been put into an operating room closest to the NICU and was waiting for him. He had been as quick as safety permitted with Mrs. Padalecki and the baby in his arms but every second could mean life or death for the next baby. He noted that while only being two and a half weeks early the Padalecki baby was a bit small. It was something he would have the nurse look into, even thought the baby was healthy in appearance. Upon reaching the new operating room he handed the Padalecki baby off to one of a team of nurses waiting at the door. Once that was done the remaining team followed him into the operating room. They helped him strip off his used gown, cap, and booties and disposing of them. They helped him scrub and sterilize before doing so themselves. Everyone suited up for the next surgery quickly. The nurse from the previous birth left as soon as she was clean. He was a bit annoyed that she wouldn’t help, but then again the job she had been hired for was on its way to the NICU.

His new patient was Mrs. Ackles and she had just been put under while he scrubbed up. Her IV and bloodlines were fresh and flowing and she was hooked up to the monitoring system. His main concern was that of the baby's whose heart rate was erratic and low. He had a nurse read out the chart information while he took a quick look at the ultra sound images just taken. Her baby would be two months early and he hoped that it wasn’t injured from the accident that had brought on the early labor. Within minutes he was performing a C-section. Not long after he delivered a boy from Mrs. Ackles swollen belly. He handed the baby to a nurse as he worked quickly to pull out the after birth and close up all the cuts he had made. While he was doing this the baby cried for the first time. He wasn’t very loud or vigorous sounding and he hoped that the baby was alright. Once he had closed up the last stitches he was done. He handed the next surgery over to another doctor who was assisting and would be the lead for the next bit. He wasn’t needed anymore and he would have another patient soon enough. He left with the nurse in charge of the new baby.

When they reached the NICU the Ackles baby was handed off and he was again stripped and cleaned before being redressed. Then he was allowed into the NICU. The Padalecki baby was being washed by nurse Blu so he took over washing the Ackles baby. He kept an eye on the other pair at the sink next to his. He weighed and measured both babies and checked them over for labored breathing or signs of shock from their early and traumatic births. He measured their responses to the constant stimuli around them. He declared neither of them deaf or blind, both had normal reflexes. Nurse Blu took blood samples from the Padalecki baby while he took samples from the Ackles baby. Both babies had their foot prints taken for mementos for their parents. Last, the babies were hooked up to monitoring wires before being swaddled in warm blankets. They were placed into warmed incubator cribs with lids so they could have oxygen pumped in instead of a tube in their nose. Looking at the babies side by side in their cribs they were about the same size despite the difference in premature age. They looked into each other’s cribs with the same dark blue-gray eyes. Both had a little bit of wispy fine hair although one was just a shade darker than the other's. That was covered up by little blue caps and mittens were placed over their hands so they couldn’t scratch their faces with their fingernails. The cribs were placed by the door next to a little window with the older baby on the inside.

That done the doctor began filling out their charts and a preliminary birth certificate while a nurse took the samples collected to the lab. A bracelet was printed for each baby to be attached before they left the nursery. For the moment they were placed inside their charts. Surgery reports would be added later as well as results from the samples and blood taken to the lab. With the preliminary paperwork done he stacked the charts one atop the other with the oldest baby’s on top. A nurse had told him that the second baby’s name was Jared and his went on the bottom. Leaving the charts on the counter next to the cribs for the nurses to pick up, he went to check on the mothers. He would make sure that they were alright before finding a place to rest for a bit before filling out the C-section surgery reports. His job would be finished and he could go home for some real rest as soon as all the I’s were dotted and the T’s crossed. But as he walked down the hall, he was paged to attend to another emergency birth from the accident. This time he wasn’t as successful and the baby was still born being too early and to injured from the accident. He made sure he would be paged if any of the mothers needed assistance or if something went wrong with them or their babies. He found an empty office where he had a small breakdown about the baby he couldn’t save. After he took a nap to reset from the blender his feelings had been put through. When he woke, he wrote up his notes as quickly as he could before turning them in to the hospital staff to file into the correct charts. Then he checked on his patients one last time, leaving them in the care of the resident staff before he left.

The pediatric nurses of the NICU watched over their new charges with joy and thanks that they were doing so well despite their early and eventful entrances to the world. Warm and secure in their incubators they slept peacefully, oblivious to the little miracles they were. Soon enough they would wake and want their first feeding. They would be taken to see their parents for the first time. Since the emergency was over many of the nurses went back to their regular duties. One went to check on the parents and see if she could get names for the babies. Nurse Blu returned from the lab to see only one nurse left in the NICU and just in time for the baby closest to the door to wake up. Looking at the charts the top wasn’t named but the bottom chart was labeled Jared. Since she knew that was the name of another couple’s baby she took the top chart. “Looks like it’s time for baby Padalecki’s first meal. I’ll be back in a while, if you go before I get back make sure there is someone here for when we do return.” With that she placed the chart in the holder made specifically for it, hooking the top to clips to keep it in place on the first crib. Taking the bracelet labeled baby boy Padalecki, she fastened it around the wrist of what was really baby boy Ackles. Then she wheeled the crib down the hall to Mr. and Mrs. Padalecki. About an hour later Mr. and Mrs. Ackles were happy to see the second crib which had been farthest inside the NICU rolled into their room. For five days the baby boys lay in their incubator cribs side by side, watching each other when awake and not with their families until they were released to leave. The Padalecki’s were the first to go, followed by the Ackles’s. Neither boy would see each other for a long time, until another accident would bring their families together for their first meeting.

 


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first years of life.

**Chapter one**   
_Year one_

 

**Jensen**

  
Settling into a rhythm when the Padalecki’s return to their home and pack isn’t as easy as they thought it would be. For the first week Jensen has apnea and Sherri is up most nights watching over him carefully or Gerald when he can convince Sherri to leave for a few hours rest. To their relief it passes and there seems to be no ill effect left behind. Outside the house there is much fanfare about the newest pack member and second son of the Alpha. Jensen is small and a little fragile but this was thought to be expected because of his trials while growing and the slight earliness of his birth along with the circumstances. The ritual of the pack members coming by to congratulate their Alpha and his mate and be introduced to the baby had to be postponed until he is a little bigger and a little stronger and over the apnea. Thankfully this doesn’t take long thanks to his heritage and the antibodies he gets from Sherri’s breast milk. Within a month he is the size of a full term normal pregnancy baby and the week after that the pack files through the house one or couples of same family adult and child combinations as a time. Congratulations and gifts are given and Jensen is presented for inspection and sniffing so everyone will recognize him.

Pack life goes on as it normally would for the next few months as it always had. The only ones to feel any different were Sherri and later to an extent Gerald. Jensen had been progressing steadily for the first few months after his birth but around his sixth month that progression slowed. He wasn’t developing as quickly as a normal pup. After consulting with their healer it was determined that Jensen was healthy despite his slow development but there was nothing they could do about it. There wasn’t any obvious physical problems and he reacted to things like any normal pup. He would just be a little slow in coming into his growth.

Because of this Sherri kept Jensen at home a lot instead of taking him out to many of the events and functions of the pack. He played and crawled in the backyard of their house with his brother in wolf form showing him what to do and urging him on. Jeff had been very accepting of Jensen and protective of his tiny brother. Gerald and Sherri were very proud of him and he was praised by the rest of the pack. However it becomes a bit of a problem when around eight months Jensen is making more animal noises then trying to say mama or dada. At nine and ten months Jensen is reluctant to try to stand and walk with aid. He prefers to crawl on all fours or even raise his butt up and lope around on his feet but with his hands on the ground. He only ever gets in a few frantic and wobbling feet this way before falling over but it’s disconcerting to see. Part of the problem is Jeff crawling with him in human or wolf form and it takes considerable patience to talk him into staying upright around Jensen so that he can learn to stand as well. Jeff then goes overboard in trying to teach Jensen to walk. By his first birthday Jensen can stand while holding on to sturdy objects but prefers to crawl still and is just beginning to try to speak.

 

 

**Jared**

  
Life is chaotic in the Ackles household for the first few months after the premature birth of their second child and son. For one the house is crowded with extra people to help care for not only Jared but for Donna and Alan and even their older son Josh. Sara had called in their mother and Alice had come right away. With Donna not able to walk and Alan only having one good arm taking care of Jared was hard. Added that they did their best to be attentive to Josh, to make sure he didn’t feel left out or unloved was exhausting.

Alan had to sit whenever he held Jared and Donna could only hold him for so long before he began to fuss and want to be held by someone standing up. Jared despite being born premature didn’t have any health problems besides being a little jaundice for the first day or so. By the time they were all released to come home it was gone. This was a blessing as they didn’t have to worry about doctor visits for him and could leave him at home when they had to go for their own checkups.

While Donna’s recovery was slow and Alan just a bit faster with his recovery Jared seemed unaffected by the trauma of his early birth. He grew rapidly over the six and seven months it took Alan and Donna to heal respectfully. He was crawling about a month ahead of schedule and eating almost twice as much as a normal baby. He began teething at three months and Donna had to switch from direct breast feeding to pumping into a bottle because he bit and bit hard. At seven and eight months the sounds he was making didn’t resemble human speech at all, they were more growls and grunts and even howls. He put up tantrums at ten months when Alan with the full use of both arms held him upright so he could get used to his legs under him to start to stand on his own. Jared preferred to crawl and he was fast, you couldn’t look away from him for a second or he would be out of the room. By a year old Donna was a little nervous that he still wouldn’t stand up even with the help of others. The doctor assured her that this was fine since he was extremely mobile otherwise and that he would come around eventually.

While all this was going on Josh began acting out and reverted some of his own normal growth progress. He wanted to be held and picked up more often and began to crawl more instead of walk. He turned sullen and wouldn’t speak just cry and moan and mumble. He didn’t like to be around Jared and would take his toys and go into another room. Jared would tear after him if he could and be determined to be around him. That attention from Jared must have made a bit of an impression on Josh and he accepted it in lieu of the absent attention Donna and Alan had for him while recovering. By Jared’s first birthday Josh had seemed to come around and he and Jared were never far from each other. Somedays Josh acted much younger then he was and imitated Jared, and other days he was a normal child with Jared trying his best to act like him. It was Josh who had him standing and even taking his first solo steps on his first birthday. For Donna and Alan it was a relief and a wonderful present even if it didn’t last more than a few minutes.

 

**********************************************************************************************************************************************  
 **Chapter two**  
 _Year two_

 

 

**Jensen**

  
Jensen’s second year progresses much the same as the latter half of his first year with slow progress. Despite reassurances from everyone that Jensen is just a late bloomer Sherri can’t help thinking something is wrong with her little boy. She goes over all the ingredients in the medications and remedies she took. She looks them up and compares any of the possible complications listed with her memory of her pregnancy and Jensen’s first year progress and behaviors. It turns out to be a fruitless effort and only adds stress to her anxiety and Gerald has to finally intervene and ban her from the internet for a while before making her promise to stop her search when he gives it back. The last word from the few forums and chatrooms for mothers telling her she should just be happy that she has Jensen and that he is healthy is what finally puts a stop to her looking for answers. She is grateful that she made it to term and that Jensen was born. He is by appearances healthy and is making steady but slow progress. She comes to the conclusion that everything will be fine once he is a little older and his heritage kicks in and his wolf wakes up and shows itself. With his wolf’s help he will catch up to what all the other pups his age are.

A hard part of the developmental problems become easier with Jeff setting the example. Jensen copies Jeff or tries to with a ferocity that most pups don’t show till they are two or older. If Jeff is crawling or running along in wolf form Jensen pushes himself to keep up. If Jeff is standing and walking Jensen tries to do so as well but often has to grab onto objects every few feet to keep from falling over as he tries to take bigger and faster steps then his little legs allow. Jeff talks to him and points things out to him naming them and Jensen mimics him. He gets a kick out of Jensen’s attempts and laughs when Jensen gets frustrated and reverts to growling and gurgling.

By eighteen months he has finally stopped growling all the time and has grasped a few words that Jeff has taught him. He still crawls and is wobbly when he walks but he can climb anything he can reach his hands onto for a good grip. He also has a favorite blanket that he dragged around with him and gets upset when anyone tries to take it away.

By the time he is almost two he has picked up a good handful of words and has started to try and do things independently. He attempts to undress all the time or pick out his own clothes from his pile when he is content to wear them. Another development that is a little disturbing is that Jensen and Jeff have begun to play fetch instead of ball. Jensen will kick the ball or toss it and Jeff in wolf form will retrieve it and bring it back. When Jeff is lectured not to do this he goes after the ball or catches it from a foot or to away from Jensen before taking it to Jensen’s side and rolling it gently away for Jensen to chase after and retrieve. They do this the Gerald and Sherri’s embarrassment at Jensen’s second birthday party.

 

 

  
**Jared**

  
Jared’s second year is better than his first mainly because Donna and Alan have fully recovered from their accident and Josh has finally settled into the big brother role and understands that his parents love him just as much as before Jared was born. Also it’s just the four of them in the house now. Sara has gone back to her own home and Alice had finally stopped coming over every weekend to help them. Jared is still a handful however with his restless energy and ceaseless movement. They didn’t know if it was just how energetic Jared was and that he went after almost anything that moved or it was something else but the family cat Patches wouldn’t come anywhere near him. Patches had avoided him his first year but that wasn’t too unusual being that she liked quiet and Jared made a lot of noise. But now she took to fleeing any room as fast as she could out the nearest exit when he entered it. They didn’t know what to do and their vet was stumped as well. They hoped that she would get over it because when it came to the cat or their son the cat was going to go.

Jared continued to eat more than normal but didn’t seem to be putting on any excess weight and the doctor theorized that he used the added fuel for his active play. He picked up words quickly and understood commands but rarely obeyed and his favorite word became “no.” At eighteen months he could walk but he still preferred to crawl and so with much debate and worry they decided to let him. His hair had come in thick and dark and Donna had to trim it regularly which was something she thought was a girl trait not a boys. Josh’s hair hadn’t come in well until he was just shy of two and had his first haircut when he was three.

Before his second birthday He finally got into the idea of standing upright and using his legs. However he skipped walking and went right into running. When he wasn’t crawling he was running and everyone was forever chasing him. This caused even more stress for Patches and it was decided that she would go and live with Sara. For his birthday Alice thought it would be a good idea to get him a stuffed to make up for the loss of Patches since he looked for her all the time. But when presented with this replacement he burst into tears and pushed the toy away. He cried whenever he saw it and when they went to the story to try and exchange it if they could he got attached to a stuffed dog. It became his favorite and it came in a close second in his affections to them and he took it everywhere he could.


	3. Growing up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Growing up can be hard when you don't quite fit in.

**Chapter three**  
_Year three_

 

 **Jensen**  
  
As Jensen’s third year crawls by Sherri starts to worry again. Jensen shows no signs of his wolf while most other pups his age are. He isn’t as strong or as social as the other pups and he doesn’t react at the same speed when they hear or smell something interesting. He can smell and he isn’t deaf but there is no way to tell for sure just how heightened or dull his senses are. He’s not mentally slow and he isn’t autistic the healer has run tests just to be sure. He also didn’t show any extra restlessness on the nights of the full moon. Not even when he is set out to bathe in its light, he even fell asleep watching it. Sherri and Gerald take turns staying home with him on full moon nights instead of taking him out to the running trails. Jeff at first complains about this because even if Jensen was slow to develop over his first two years Jeff still likes to show off his baby brother. He waits for the day when Jensen will transform and they can really rough house and play.

Half way through Jensen’s third year Sherri has a pregnancy scare and her panic is confusing to little Jensen who has no idea what is going on. Jeff is nervous and likes to try and talk about what having another sibling might mean. Gerald wants to take Sherri to the closest hospital but she refuses to go. Instead she spends a weekend locked inside the healer’s house. When the weekend is over she returns home and there is no more talk of another baby. Later when Jensen can understand such things he’ll learn that his mother was either never really pregnant or lost the baby before it even really had a chance. After that Sherri uses Jensen and his supposed problems as an excuse to use birth control and avoid another pregnancy. Gerald agreed with her that they should add to their litter while Jensen was still growing but not right at the moment. Maybe when he was older and had overcome his setbacks they might have another pup or two. Jeff got over his disappointment very quickly deciding Jensen was enough for him.

Jensen’s third birthday is a small simple affair and he gets nervous at all the people staring at him and tries to hide behind his mother who shoos him outside to play. When he tries to play fetch with the other pups he gets scolded and hide and seek is too easy because they can sniff him out quickly. Tag is hard because they run faster than he does in both forms and there is no slide or swing set like in the park to play on. Jensen ends up being read stories to by Jeff by the end of the party.

 

 

 **Jared**  
  
Jared is big for a two year old and he only gets taller as the year goes by. He is as restless as ever and Donna begins to think he might have ADHD but Alan assures her it’s just because he is a healthy growing boy. It’s far too early to diagnose him with ADHD, if he does have it they will find out when he goes to preschool. They do notice however that as the year goes by he is very sensitive to smells and sounds.

Anything too loud can startle him and he picks up on things that they have to strain to hear. He recognizes when the mail man is coming and runs to the front window to watch. It becomes a ritual for the mailman to try and sneak up to their mailbox before Jared gets to the window to wave but he never succeeds. They now have to be careful of what they say in the house after Jared overheard Alan swear one day while he was working on a project in the garage. He spent days repeating the word wherever and to whoever would listen. They had a very hard time trying to explain that it was a bad word and that he wasn’t supposed to say it.

Smell is another matter and they aren’t sure what to do about it. Donna had a very hard time finding a laundry detergent that wouldn’t overpower his nose with its residual scent. He can’t be in the kitchen half the time when Donna is cooking and walking through the mall can be a bit of a mind field. In the warmer months Jared loves to be outside where there are lots of scents to try and identify and nothing is too powerful and the wind can take away anything too strong and bring new scents to his attention.

Jared when he is taken to the park always plays with the older kids because he can be a bit rough in his play. Both Donna and Alan try to get him to play nicer but it’s just that Jared doesn’t recognize the amount of strength his bigger body has over the smaller kids. His hand to eye coordination is good so they often take a big ball for him and the other kids to play with. When most of the kids are going home or getting tired Jared is still running wild. He loves the jungle gym and climbs over anything he can get on that is in his reach. His favorite is a two steps log bridge connected by three steps to a platform ending in a twisty slide. He runs full tilt from the base of the stairs, over the bridge across the platform and down the slide in seconds and once he's down he starts all over again. The first time he did this about halfway through his second year Donna was following him the whole time as he teetered tottered and wobbled. But after a while she could just sit back and watch since he had the hang of it and she grew tired trying to keep up. For his third birthday Alan builds a mini jungle gym in their backyard that helps Jared burn off his everyday supply of energy. The last few months before his birthday for a few days of those months Jared would be especially restless and at night he would fight sleep and be cranky. Donna finally pin points that this behavior takes place around the full moon but thinks nothing of it other than that some boys are like animals. Even some adult act a little more out of the ordinary on the night of the full moon. In a few more months she would find out just how right she was.

 

************************************************************************************************************************************

  
**Chapter four**  
_Year four_

 

 **Jensen**  
  
Jensen’s favorite word soon becomes why and he is always asking it. Why this, why that, why why why? It drives everyone crazy since half of the time they can’t answer him or he finds whatever answer they give him to be unacceptable. When he begins to understand that keeping him at home means he can’t play with other pups he begins to have tantrums and they use this as an excuse as to why they don’t take him out as much. Sometimes it is enough to stop the tantrum but most of the time it isn’t since he knows he isn’t going out one way or another, tantrum or not. It confuses him and leads to more questions which get ignored or lead to the all terrible phrase of "because I said so." Jensen spends the latter half of his third year sulking, throwing tantrums that start to make Jeff avoid him and gaining small independence by dressing himself and eating on his own with plastic cutlery. His parents are grateful that they don't have to fight with him or try to cajole him into eating because he is asking questions or pouting about something that happened that day. He is not very effective of course at these tasks just yet but he refuses help or sulks and makes a big deal out of being helped when it seems like a chore for the helper. If he does ask for help he gets it quickly and he pays as much attention to directions as a three and a half year old can so he can do it better himself later. Everyone hopes that his determination at early independence means that his wolf is still somewhere in him trying to find its way out. As for all the questions they soon only answer just what is important for this growing independence or give him a picture book so he can find the answer for himself. His reading skills are a little above average because of this but not high enough to enroll him in early classes since the rest of his skills are still at a normal level. But by the time of his fourth birthday and there is still not a single sign of his wolf Sherri becomes a little depressed. Jensen seems to be aware that his mother is sad and that he makes her sad but doesn’t know what to do to fix it, so he tries harder to be independent so his mother won’t worry and be sad for him. It’s a cycle that will last for a long time.

 

 

 **Jared**  
  
Jared’s energy continued to be boundless and he continued to be bigger then the rest of the kids his age. Alan had to haggle with Donna about enrolling Jared in an early gymnastics and sports play group. Jared still played a bit rough but Josh and Donna were working hard to get him to be gentler. It was still a bit of a chore for a few days of each month and it continued to puzzle them all. Around this time Jared even though he has good hand and eye coordination is not as good at balance mostly because of his size and because he is in such a hurry and often distracted by everything going on around him. He is a messy child who prefers to eat with his hands and run around barefoot and as unclothed as possible. When he does dress himself it’s on clothes that are his brothers and too big. When asked why he tells them he hates the feeling of being held tight by his clothes that are his size and he can’t take them off as easily. So Donna makes a compromise with him, he can have cloths a size half to big or a complete size bigger if he won’t take them off in public. With four months to go until his fourth birthday Donna loses her energy to keep up and Jared’s mood changes almost overnight. He can still be a bit cranky but he begins to spend the time he would be a terror cuddling with Donna. He keeps sniffing her and clinging when she sits down. Two weeks later Donna throws up three days in a row and having no fever she goes to the doctor’s office.

Jared is excited at the idea that he’ll have a new brother or sister to play with besides Josh. It took the fact that the child would live with them for Jared to understand the full extent of the news. The next morning Jared shows everyone the bed of blankets he has made for the baby and the toys he is willing to share. Donna has to tell him that the baby won’t come for a while yet and Jared has a little fit not understanding why the baby can’t come now. Alan has to take him to the park to calm him and run off the energy he had built up. To help him understand the wait they explain that the baby must grow like a plant before it’s born and Donna and Alan come up with a way to keep Jared at bay with its progress. Alan uses a washable marker and will mark off a timeline of growth on the doorframe like a normal child’s height chart on a doorframe. Everything seems to settle until the week before Jared’s birthday.

The week before his birthday Jared wakes up cranky and achy but without fever and is moody all day. He swings from tantrums to wanting to be cuddled to crying in pain to running up the wall with restlessness and energy to sleeping for a long time to not sleeping at all. He eats large amounts of food at one sitting only to not be hungry at all at others. Donna is also very sick and weak at this point thanks to her pregnancy and Josh is acting up to get attention. Alan has his hands full and wants to take Jared and Donna to the doctor’s but Donna assures him that her symptoms are natural and there isn’t much to be done. Jared will even out soon and if he doesn’t then they will go but not before his birthday. The night before his birthday is a full moon and Jared is sleepy all day so he is put to bed early. When he isn’t up and running around like usual the next morning Donna goes to check on him. When she opens the door the room is a mess and there is a puppy on the bed chewing on the night shirt Jared was wearing. It looks up at Donna with familiar hazel eyes and gives a yip, tongue hanging out in a version of a smile. Donna takes it all in and screams bringing Alan running to her side.

“What is it?” Alan asked as he looked at his wife who was blocking the door to the nursery. When she didn’t answer he had to grab her shoulders to move her so he could see into the room. It was a mess and at first he thought that someone had ransacked it since he didn’t immediately see Jared. After a few sweeps of the room he took notice of the puppy who was sitting on the bed its head cocked looking back at them. “What is that?” His question seemed to break Donna’s spell of frozenness and she gave a softer scream and began to cry. This got a whimper from the puppy who ducked its head and slinked off the bed as if it knew it had done something bad. After a moment it came forward and Donna began a low keen that stopped it short. After a moment it began to run in circles chasing its tail. Josh who had been drawn by the noise pushed at Alan’s legs to get a view and saw the puppy’s antics.

“Puppy!” he shouted which startled the puppy into falling down. It didn’t have the chance to get back up as Josh darted into the room before Alan could grab him and picked up the puppy. “Oh thank you” he is swinging back and forth with the puppy in his arms wiggling like mad. Josh almost drops it as the wiggling turns into what looks like a seizure or severe full body shivers and the puppy lets out a keening howl and then in the blink of an eye is gone. Josh is now holding a naked Jared who is big and heavy and he drops him and screams before running back out of the room. Donna follows him and Alan and a now crying Jared are left looking at each other. Alan wants to comfort his son but he can’t seem to make himself move forward and embrace him. It takes Jared turning literal puppy dog eyes up at him and holding out his arms wide, his hands making grabby motions and crying out for his “daddy” that do him in. He picks Jared up and holds him to his chest feeling Jared’s tears and snot wet his shirt as he rocks up and down, back and forth shushing him. Whatever has happened to Jared to turn him into a puppy and back must have exhausted him because he is asleep in not time. Alan lays him in his bed, cleans up his face with his ruined night shirt and tucks him in before leaving to find Donna. Josh is probably with her so he doesn’t have to worry too much about him. He find both of them in his and Donna’s room. Something similar must have happened with Josh as with Jared only that Josh is still awake but sleepy looking as he lays in their bed. There is no need to tell Donna that they need to talk she must know so she kisses Josh’s forehead and tells him she’ll be back before he leads them to Josh’s bedroom.

Once inside Alan closes the door and they take a minute to just stand opposite each other in silence a moment. He is the first to speak but he doesn’t look away from her. “And here I thought it was us who were supposed to give Jared surprise gifts for his birthday” he tries to lighten things up.

“That is not Jared!” It’s almost a shout and she covers her mouth with her hand as a sob tries to escape. “I want my son, where is my son?”

“Honey he is still our son, he’s still Jared.” Alan wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. Jared and the dog were one in the same and he couldn’t deny his son.

“That’s a dog! Actually, I’m not even sure that is that unless it’s is some kind of husky mix. And what it did to Jared it…I don’t know what it did to Jared but that thing isn’t him.

“It is Jared, not an it, and really he looked more like a….” he couldn’t finish but she could tell he had an idea.

“What Alan he’s a what?” She didn’t say it this time and he counted that a step in the right direction he just hoped she wouldn’t take two steps back when he said what he thought to be true.

“A wolf. He looks like a wolf.” They are quite for a moment as his words sink in.

“Wolf….Werewolf?” Donna says it first tears rolling down her cheeks from shut eyes and she shakes her head and wrings her hands. Alan pulls her to him and holds her and lets her cry much like he did for Jared just a short time ago. Once she has calmed he takes a step back so they can finish their conversation. She turns to Josh’s little night stand to grab a tissue from the little pile there that she has yet to collect and throw away. They are dirty but she doesn’t care looking them over to pick the least wadded which will be the cleanest. When she finds what she’s looking for and plucks it up he hand bumps a little popsicle stick picture frame. Jared had made it with her help and it says best big brother in blue and inside is a picture of Josh and Jared tangled together in an all-consuming hug big grins of their faces their eyes sparkling with happiness. The same eyes that looked back at her from the face of a puppy and a naked crying boy and she knows that she loves Jared no matter what he is.

“Do you still want me to call the doctor for him?” Alan asks bringing her back to attention and the matter at hand.

“No!” she turns on him rapidly “don’t call anyone. We don’t talk to anyone about this, anyone! They’ll take him away from us if anyone knows about this.” She can’t quite say werewolf again just yet but Alan will know what she means. “I didn’t carry him around for nine months” Alan looks as if he’s going to say something but she keeps right on going. “Okay seven months, and put up with his bratty behavior for the past four years just to have him taken away. No more doctors from now on unless he’s dying or needs his shots.”

Alan looks relieved that Donna has come to her senses about their son “So what do we do now?”

“We take it one day at a time for now and see what happens so we can better know what to do in the future. Now I have to get cleaned up so I can bake a cake for Jared for dessert. I’ll leave you to talk to Josh for now.” Donna collects the pile of tissues from the nightstand and walks out towards the kitchen. Alan smiles after her before going back to their room to swear Josh to secrecy.

 

*********************************************************************************************************************

  
**Chapter five**  
_Year five_

 

 **Jensen**  
  
Jensen is taken to the healer for the first time he can remember and he does not like it one bit. He is poked and prodded and looked at and none too kindly. He has to sit in his mother’s lap as the healer asks her questions instead of going out to play. It’s boring and it takes forever and it becomes a ritual that will be repeated every three months. The other pups tease him about this and he becomes clingy for a bit to his mother but she just shakes him off and tells him that he has to play outside with the other pups so he can learn from them. He isn’t sure what he is supposed to be learning but follows her instructions as best he can to his understanding. He hopes it makes her happy but as time goes by he sees that it doesn’t. She is sad every time he comes back walking in the door on two legs instead of four. Once he tried crawling in on hands and knees to see if it helped and she told him to stand up because he was getting his pants dirty.

There is a new pup born that summer and he is excited to see it at the party for its introduction. But after he gets a quick look at the baby girl he is ushered to a back room of the house and given some toys and told to play. The other pups are outside and he wants to be too but he wants to be a good boy too. So he plays in the room for as long as he can stand before finally going outside. The other pups are in wolf form and ruff housing on the grass. The bigger ones won’t play with him but he crawls around chasing after the youngest and smallest ones until he is scooped up suddenly and his name is all but shouted in his ear. He is carried inside where his mother makes apologies to the new parents and takes him home. He doesn’t understand what he has done wrong and his mother doesn’t tell him. Instead, she reads to him for a bit and lets him play with his toys. In the summer he spends a lot of time in his own backyard and Jeff spends less time playing with him. He spends the days playing in the dirt and with sticks in the yard or with stuffed animals which concerns his parents. His fifth birthday is half spent with the healer and the rest is at the park. The best thing he gets is a large metal toy dump truck and a tow truck that have some of the other pups over to play with him.

 

 

 **Jared**  
  
Jared’s parents watch him and it makes him nervous and he is unable to control or notice when he is a boy and when he is a wolf. Besides the full moon any time he is too stressed or scared or occasionally even happy he is a wolf. For the first few weeks after his fourth birthday they keep him and Josh at home and family and friends away. They worry about Jared turning into a puppy at any moment but as the weeks pass they understand his triggers and come up with ways to avoid them. They also try and teach Jared to keep hold of his human side. Calming him down works best, asking him questions that he has to think of answers to works well too. Josh kept his distance for the first few days but with his parents leading by example and playing or cuddling with puppy Jared he comes around. After the weeks of exile end he is eager to have puppy Jared around. Donna comes out of the kitchen one afternoon to find Jared a puppy on the end of a crude leash made of jump rope with Josh holding the other end asking to go for a walk. Donna freaks and rushes to Jared thinking that the jump rope will choke him as he has no collar. It takes some time to calm Jared enough to be a boy again and she and Alan have a long talk with Josh about the fact that he can’t treat Jared like a dog even if he looks like one.

Alan and Donna know that they have to prepare for the future and the possibility that Jared won’t get to do the normal things that average children do. The first being that depending on his aptitude tests he could end up going to kindergarten early in the fall even if he is still four. That can’t happen if he randomly turns into a wolf. Also daycare and sitters are out since anyone of them might freak out and tell someone about Jared. Donna was working part time and had taken off the day after Jared’s first transformation. Money will be tight but they come up with a budget and ways to cut corners to save money so that Donna can stay at home and watch Jared. She looks into what she would have to do to home school Jared should the need arise. When Josh finds out that Jared will get to stay home he wants to as well but Alan convinces him that he wouldn’t want to because he would still have classes and there would be no recess and he would miss all of his friends. Jared doesn’t have a whole lot of set friends yet just kids he would see at the daycare he no longer goes to. That will be the hardest part of their new situation, avoiding kids that Jared used to play with. They save money from no longer using daycare but they are still on a tight budget. Donna looks into hobbies she can do while watching Jared that don’t have a lot of material cost and can bring in enough money to be worth the effort of making. When spring comes Donna tries her hand at gardening to take up time in the day and get Jared outside. She takes to it well and what she grows helps with the grocery bills. She makes charts and asks Jared endless questions about how he feels, what he is doing or thinking when he transforms. She does her best to understand and try to help Jared stop any change when it comes or change back when she finds him in his wolf form.

In the summer they go for a camping trip and set up their tent in a lesser used part of the campground. They almost leave the first night when Jared transforms into a wolf and won’t change back. A ranger sees them and admonishes them for not filling out the paperwork for having a dog on site. After that, they calm a little and end up staying. Alan sacrifices a belt to make Jared a collar and Donna gets flustered whenever she sees it poking out of his fur. That is when the first pictures of ‘Jay’ their hybrid dog are taken. In the middle of summer in one of the hottest weeks Donna gives birth to a little girl she names Mackenzie. Josh is happy but absorbed in his own activities while Jared is fascinated by his new little sister. Jared spends as much time as a wolf as he can and has a hard time adjusting to any kind of schedule once fall starts. By winter he has a fairly good grasp on his transformation now turning back and forth at will most of the time. Donna still decides to home school him and keep him at home until he no longer transforms when surprised or really tired, scared or extremely happy.

For his fifth birthday he gets the usual toys and books of a growing boy with a loving family. He also gets a special collar that was handcrafted from a design Alan worked on after talking to numerous owners of show dogs and dog breeders. It’s warn soft leather that will stretch a bit so he can wear it in both forms and it won’t choke him. It has a quick release clasp that he can handle with his human fingers. The inside is soft cotton cloth so that it won’t rub and he won’t get marks. On a D ring in front there is a solid metal tag with ‘Jay’ carved ornately on it along with their home phone number and address. They hope that he won’t ever lose the collar because there is no way in the world that they are getting him chipped.

 

************************************************************************************************************************

  
**Chapter six**  
_Year six_

 

 **Jensen**  
  
Jensen spends most of the next year scared and worried and in a high state of anxiety. He takes to scratching at his arms and kicking his own ankles when he is sitting in any chair high enough for his feet to dangle. His parents and his pack are always watching him and he keeps thinking he has done something bad. When Jeff tells him that they are waiting for his wolf he does everything he can to imitate the older pups so he will become a wolf like them. It doesn’t work and it seems to make the other pups not want to play with him which makes him try harder. He focuses on watching them so that when they react he does to a fraction of a second later. He copies their reactions to things the taste and mimics their faces. At first, his parents think that maybe his wolf is waking up but when he doesn’t react without any other pups present his parents catch on to what he has been doing. They should have been comforting him and praising him for how smart he is to come up with an idea like he has but instead they only scold him. The trips to the healer are worse than ever as they keep making him do things. They test his reflexes, they want him to concentrate, to focus harder on his hearing or sight or smell to find things they have hidden in the clinic. When he fails they give him foul smelling and icky liquids to drink and try to provoke him by scaring him and pressuring him. They make him run for a long time or stand outside in the cold under the light of the full moon. Nothing works but they keep trying at least once a month.

One month Jensen hides so he won’t have to go but his mother sniffs him out and chides him for making them late to their appointment. Another time he throws the biggest tantrum he has ever had and ever will have since when his mother can’t calm him she eventually gives him a spanking to make him behave and he does after the sixth hard whack to his bottom.

He hopes that this won’t go on after his next birthday he would run away if it did. He decides to try it to see what happens but he doesn’t last very long because he gets hungry and didn’t take any food. When they tell him that they plan to take him to the next full moon run to socialize with the other wolves he talks back for the first time. He tells them that he isn’t a wolf but maybe he’s something else like a bat from the book Dracula that Jeff read to him. His parents scold Jeff for reading him such a book and tell him that he doesn’t know what he means. That he is a wolf but that right now there is something wrong. It can be fixed, he can he healed, he just has to try harder. He is the same as them, as his brother. He just can’t transform yet. In the end he never gets to go to the full moon run because he is healing from the worst spanking of his life. The morning of the full moon he had decided to draw fur onto his skin with markers. When his markers had run out he had used the ones in his father’s desk. They, unlike his own, were not washable. It took days of hard constant scrubbing to come off and he found all his markers replaced with crayons and his father office door locked.

Some of the cubs had seen him before his parents had and they all make fun of him now when the adults aren’t around. He dreads going to the park and avoids it as long as he can but will eventually have to go back. In the fall he is glad that the weather keeps him in doors more. Unfortunately, fall also means he will have to go to school and be in kindergarten. The class is tiny and he knows everyone and they know him. He doesn’t make any new friends and the slightly older kids are Jeff’s friends. His birthday that year is just his parents since none of the other pups want to come and there wouldn’t be much for them to do anyway that they are interested in.

 

 

 **Jared**  
  
Jared is disappointed that he doesn’t get to go to school like the other kids. Josh teases him sometimes and he gets so frustrated that one day he changes and bits out at Josh in his wolf form. He gets a spanking for that and a time out and he doesn’t do it again. Josh got a spanking too and had to apologize to Jared. After that, they form a wired bond over school. Josh doesn’t like to go so when he gets home he tells Jared about what he did and Jared helps him as best he can with the homework. In trade when their parents aren’t watching Jared acts like the pet that they aren’t allowed to have. This leads to Josh asking Donna one day if he can take Jared as Jay the wolf to school for pet show and tell day. That night they both get a long lecture that while Jared may sometimes look like a dog he isn’t one. Even though he has a collar he isn’t going to be lead around on a leash, it’s not right. Since Jared doesn’t have full control over his transformation what would happen if he changed in the middle of class? Everyone else would be scared and Jared would be taken away, they might never see him again. That someone might hurt Jared because they were scared. At this Jared got scared as started to cry. He was so emotional he transformed his little wolf self, howling in despair. It took a lot of hugging, petting and telling him they wouldn’t let that happen and that he was safe for him to calm down. They point out that while Jared is safe at home they still have to be careful. Especially when anyone is over, even friends and family. They might wonder why Jared and Jay were never in the same room together.

For the next few weeks, Jared and Josh go around looking over their shoulders and all around when they want to play as before. But as with all children who haven’t experienced that bad thing from nightmares, their vigilance and worry wore off with each passing day they were not discovered. Their parents did catch on that Jared was helping Josh and made sure that Josh did his homework along, free of distractions. Jared was to be signed up for homeschooling and a counselor comes out to evaluate the situation and make sure that Donna knows what it is she has to do for Jared. The meeting goes well thanks to all the preplanning and research. In the fall Jared’s course books arrive. Jared is smart and it takes no time at all before he is half way through the course work. All his private lessons with Josh have helped. The counselor makes a visit to test Jared to see how advanced he is and if he can and should jump ahead. In the end, it is determined that while Jared knows what answers to put down he doesn’t full grasp all of the concepts. He has memorized a fair bit from Josh’s past work. He will continue on as normal but be made to explain his answers so that if he doesn’t understand completely Donna has time to explain.

For recess, since he doesn’t get it like normal school students he gets to go to the park every other day for an extended period of time. Sometimes he goes as himself and sometimes he goes as his wolf self. On days when he insists on being his wolf self Donna only takes him for a walk around the park. She is fearful that people will ask questions or that Jared won’t be able to control himself and accidentally transform. She encourages him to be himself when they go to the park and bribes him by allowing him to stay longer to play if he can hold back any transformation. He makes a few friends there and for his birthday his parents have a cake and play date in the park so his friends can come. It isn’t too long and they make sure he has the chance to be Jay before they go so his wolf self will be too tired to come out when they are at the park. It works and Jared gets to be Jay at home after too. It’s one of his best birthdays ever he thinks.


End file.
